Rogue
The rogue is a melee fighter that specializes in dealing dependable, sustained damage to one foe at a time and also possesses various abilities for stealth, exploration, poison making, and (at level 61+) minor crowd control. The class's iconic offensive action is its ability to backstab, a special attack that deals heavy damage if used against the rear arc of an opponent's body but fails if the intended victim is facing the rogue. From the earliest levels onward, rogues' abilities to Sneak and Hide allow them to walk past both living and undead creatures without being seen, making them ideal scouts in dungeons and other dangerous areas. At level 63 and above, the Shroud of Stealth AA) enhances this into the most potent form of stealth in the game, rendering the sneaking-and-hidden rogue immune to detection by all but the most viglant of creatures. Rogues are the only class with the ability to Make Poison, a tradeskill which creates consumables that grant the user an offensive melee combat proc to deal bonus damage as a result of the poison. While some of these poisons can be used by any class, many of the more damaging or tactically interesting poisons can only be applied by rogues. Thus, tradeskilling for poisons can become a rather significant aspect of rogue gameplay. Rogues are the only class that can Pickpocket, and one of only two (the other being bards) who can Pick Locks. Rogues wear chain armor and are normally seen dual wielding, with a one-handed piercing weapon in both the primary hand and secondary hand due to the addition of AA's that only affect piercing weapon damage. Please note, the use of a piercing weapon in the primary hand is required in order to use the ability backstab. Rogues receive a small bonus to their rate of normal (not AA) experience gain, compared to most other classes. Gameplay Strategy The class's strong damage output, satisfying translation of weapon upgrades and offensive buffs into bigger damage, ability to stealth around, and ability to enhance others melee damage by making poisons all contribute to making the rogue a helpful and fun class to include in a dedicated play group that will contain one or more other melee fighters and intends on doing a lot of dungeon crawling while advancing in levels. Along with amazing dps, the Rogue has high defensive and evasion skills combined with decent health and armor which means that they could tank and take hits about as well as Rangers and Monks but inferior to Warriors and Paladins. A rogue seeking to adventure solo through the early levels of the game will generally find the ideal companion to be a tanking mercenary of the highest tier that the account's current membership status allows. Depending on tier, the tanking mercenary can provide suitable solo tanking (without need of healing) until level 60 and beyond, allowing the rogue to get behind foes and backstab freely. The important Backstab skill arrives at level 10. Although its damage early on is not particularly flashy, planning one's fighting around creating opportunities to use it (e.g. by initiating fights with it, or by standing behind foes while someone else tanks them) will allow its skill proficiency to increase, which will be helpful later on. From level 15 onward, the rogue meets the required level necessary to use the lowest-level poisons. Poisoner Baraka in Crescent Reach and Giftn Na`Shalith in Plane of Knowledge sell ready-made Bite of the Shissar poisons that work nicely to get a fledgeling rogue started. These poisons provide a random chance for autoattack swings to deal a large amount of extra poison damage while lowering the rogue's threat with the target. Additional poison options are also available if a higher level rogue crafts some first-tier poisons to give (or sell) to the level 15. At level 20 the rogue gains access to the Make Poison tradeskill, which significantly expands the strategies and tactics available to the class. The newfound ability to create poisons like Strike of Ssraeshza, which fades after only one proc but deals extreme damage and is virtually guaranteed to proc immediately (on the rogue's next autoattack swing), empowers the rogue with the option of generating a large burst of poison damage on-demand rather than waiting for random chance. Meanwhile, debuffing poisons like Myrmidon's Sloth and Fighter's Bane provide the rogue with new tools for hindering foes. (Note that one damaging poison and one debuffing poison can be active on the rogue simultaneously.) For social players, the ability to craft Spider's Bite and Scorpion's Agony poisons, which are usable by any class, gives the rogue a refreshing ability to provide ADPS to a party by preparing poisons and mailing or trading them to allies before a session of adventuring begins. Since they can be traded, poisons can also be made and sold to other interested players for profit. Also at level 20, a rogue gains access to his or her first class-specific melee tome, Sneak Attack. This combat ability requires that the rogue be successfully hidden for one tick prior to activation, and sharply increases the accuracy, minimum and maximum damage, and critical hit chance of the rogue's next backstab (within 30 seconds). Although not a tremendous increase in DPS within itself, this ability serves as an introduction to the increasingly powerful sneak attacks the rogue will gain access to while progressing through the levels. (stub) Category:Class Category:Character Creation Category:Stub Skills 'Combat Skills' 'Thief Skills' 'Tradeskills' 'Language Skills' 'Other Skills' See Also Rogue Spells, Disciplines, and Abilities List Category:Class Category:Character Creation Category:Stub Category:Hotkey layout